


DREAM TREE

by TheAnna



Category: As It Is (Band), Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, M/M, Parallel Universes, Pawsten, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 10:11:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14103123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAnna/pseuds/TheAnna
Summary: When Awsten and Patty first meet in their dreams they think that's all it is, a dream. But one night's events prove them wrong.They find out there not the first people to meet in the dream world and have to work through trauma and emotional breakdowns to figure their new lifes out.





	DREAM TREE

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for my bad english, english is my fourth language but I had the idea for this story and really wanted to write it.  
> I hope it didn't turn out too bad

DREAM TREE  
So Awsten didn't talk about it a lot but he had these dreams. They weren't the usual chaos they actually made a lot of sense, too much if he thought about it. But let's start at the beginning.   
A few weeks ago Awsten found himself in this place which was basically just a tree floating in eternal nothingness. He knew it must have been be a dream since he remembered falling asleep just minutes before.   
So he moved around the tree. He climbed a few branches up, a few down, trying to find something interesting. And an hour or so later he found what he was searching for.  
A few branches down and to his left there was a boy about his age, about as confused as he had been at first.   
Awsten climbed down to the other boy. Standing behind him he cheered: “Hey!”   
The other boy was startled and almost fell off the branch they were standing on but Awsten had grabbed his arm and steadied him.   
“Who are you?” the other boy asked. Now that he had turned around Awsten could see the face of the other boy. He had longish blonde hair that fell into his radiant blue eyes. The expression on his face made him look like a lost puppy.  
Awsten realized he had stared at the stranger for to long as he waved his hand in front of Awsten's face.   
Awsten regained his composure and answered coolly: “Awsten.”   
He stuck his hand in the other boy's direction. The stranger shook his hand and introduced himself: “I'm Patrick but I guess you can call me Patty.”   
The boy who introduced himself as Patty looked around again and followed his introduction with: “So what's this place?”  
Awsten remembered that he had no clue, so he shrugged and said: “I don't know but let's find out.”   
And so that night and many after the two boys would climb up and down that tree, searching for answers, make up games to play around the tree or just lay on the branches and talk. About school, about their interests, everything they could think of.

Patty was a kid of no secrets. He wore his heart on his sleeve and was honest about everything. Aside from maybe the fact that he had no secrets since there was this one thing that started happening a few weeks ago that he didn't want to tell anyone about. Want might be the wrong word though since he simply couldn't tell anyone about it for they'd think he was insane.   
So what was he so worried about? He'd started meeting this boy in his dreams. His name was Awsten or at least that's what the boy had told him. He was about the same age as Patty, a bit taller than him and had longish purple hair that complemented his greenish blue eyes.   
Patty would meet Awsten every night. Sometimes he had to wait until Awsten appeared, sometimes Awsten was already waiting for him. Patty would fall asleep and a few minutes later he'd wake up somewhere in this gigantic tree that was surrounded by nothing but blackness.   
At first Patty had thought this was just a dream. The cool tree he loved to climb, the cute boy that was literally his dream-boyfriend and the lack of surroundings made that explanation seem logical.   
But as he kept going back there night after night Patty started questioning if it was really a dream. He couldn't make things appear and the normal laws of physics applied there too.   
Also: Is there such a thing as a continuing dream? Recurring dreams okay but when do you ever just continue a dream where you last left off even if you really want ?   
Patty had his suspicions but it hurt nobody so he just enjoyed his time in the tree with Awsten. 

After weeks of meeting every night Awsten and Patty had gotten to know each other quite well. At first they had climbed around the tree, played tag and hide and seek but soon enough they were bored. So they were just talking, sometimes sitting a couple of branches away from each other, sometimes laying right next to each other.   
Soon they found themselves telling each other things they couldn't tell anybody else. Awsten told Patty about this girl he met at a gig and thought she was really cute. And Patty told Awsten about his dream of being able to be a full time musician. They found out they weren't that different.   
Patrick Thomas Walters was born on the 12th of September 1991 in Orford, went to North Orford High, was currently studying contemporary music at the Orford University of Art, was really into Alternative Music and loved coffee.   
Awsten Constantine Knight was born on the 17th of January 1992 in Orford, went to North Orford High, was currently studying contemporary music at the Orford University of Art, was really into Alternative Music and loved coffee.   
Patty had often imagined how if would be if Awsten were real. They would have been in the same class, had the same interests, they probably would have been best friends. At least best friends.

Awsten had been spending every free second with Patty and it didn't go unnoticed by Awsten's friends.   
One day Awsten came home to an unlocked flat after his job at the local music venue. At first he thought he had forgotten to lock the door but soon enough he found his best friends Travis, Otto and Geoff sitting in his living room with serious expressions on their faces.   
“Hey guys.” he said questioningly.   
Otto seized the opportunity and jumped straight into it: “Awsten we need to talk.”  
“About what?” Awsten asked carefully and looked right at his friends.   
“The fact that you haven't been showing up to band practise for over two weeks?” Geoff stated as if it were the most obvious thing.   
“Or about the fact that our prof wanted to know what's wrong with you because your grades are slipping.” Otto said.  
“Or maybe the fact that I haven't seen you in over a week when we used to hang out every fucking day?” Travis added.   
“So why do you care?” Awsten said defensively, “It's my life isn't it? I can do what I want without asking your permission.”   
And with that Awsten locked himself in his room and waited for Geoff, Otto and Travis to leave his flat.

On the same day Patty's friends had a similar idea. They had invited him to dinner after work and even though Patty would have much rather gone straight home he knew that it wasn't really up for debate.   
So after his shift Patty walked to the Italian place where him and his friends would spend countless evenings with vegan lasagna and strawberry soda. He found his friends immediately sitting at their usual table. So he told the waiter he'd take his usual and sat with them.   
Patty had barely taken his hoodie off when the interrogation began.   
“So what have you been up to?” Ben asked suspiciously, “We haven't seen you at band practice for a while.”   
“Well I have a ton of work with Uni and working at the Galaxy.” Patty stammered trying to seem as casual as possible.  
“Bullshit!” Ben almost shouted and Ali and Foley had to remind him they were in public. But Ben continued with only a bit less volume: “I have the same classes as you and work the same job as you. If you can remember. But I guess you have more important things in mind than your best friends.”   
While Ali tried to calm Ben down Foley explained: “We're just really worried you know? Usually you wouldn't miss rehearsals for anything in the world. But lately you seem to have your head in the clouds. We just wanted to make sure you're okay.”  
There was a heavy break and his friends stared silently at Patty. “I guess.” Patty began cautiously, “I've been stuck in my own head in the last few days.”  
“More like weeks.” Ben mutters under his breath.  
“So that means you'll be joining us at the practice space tomorrow?” Ali asked hopefully, ignoring Ben's comment.   
Patty hesitated a moment but then said confidently: “Yeah, you can count on me.”   
Now he only had to tell Awsten that he won't be able to see him any more or at least not as often. 

As Patty got back to his flat all he wanted to do was to go to sleep but he didn't want to face Awsten. Awsten had the tendency to take everything personal and overreact so Patty didn't want to think about what Awsten would do when he told him what he had to tell him. But eventually Patty fell asleep and woke up at the very top of the tree, Awsten standing over him.   
“Finally!” Awsten almost yelled.   
Patty looked at him with apparent concern.   
Awsten quickly picked up on that and explained: “Sorry, it's just that today wasn't the best day and I was really looking forward to being with you.”   
“It's okay.” Patty said slowly and sat up, “So what's going on that you're so stressed about?”   
Awsten sat down next to Patty, staring into black nothingness. “My friends were over today, telling me I'm not myself.” Awsten got progressively louder, “But they don't even know me, they don't know that being with you is the only thing I really care about. They don't know about any of this. They don't understand me. They don't understand this!”   
“Shhh, Awsten calm down. I understand what you're going through.” Patty tried to calm the younger boy down. “But maybe they're right. Maybe we should spend more time in our worlds. That doesn't mean I don't wanna see you any more but I have responsibilities and other people I care about.”   
“You don't! You don't understand!” Awsten yelled, jumping to his feet, “I wanna...” he leaned down to Patty and suddenly it all went black. 

As Patty opened his eyes the next day he didn't know what had been going on last night. While getting up and ready for Uni all he could think about was last night. Would he have kissed Awsten back? Had they actually kissed? It had all been so blurry that he couldn't remember any details other than the cocktail of chemicals in his stomach: Anxiety mixed with endorphins, mixed with adrenaline and to his surprise love. He'd never felt that strongly but he wanted more of it. 

Awsten had woken up in the middle of the night, heart racing, nervous almost nauseous. Why did he wake up so suddenly? Did he exit the dream accidentally? Did Patty not want to kiss him?   
Safe to say Awsten couldn't sleep the rest of the night so he just lay awake, staring at his ceiling replaying those few seconds in his head over and over again.  
As the sun came up he quickly got dresses and left for Uni, walking, not talking the bus because the cold morning air might just clear his mind.

But as Awsten entered his first lecture he thought he was hallucinating. Was he that obsessed with the blonde boy that he was imagining him at his university? His friends must have been right. He must be going crazy. But there he stood in his Yellowcard hoodie and his Hufflepuff scarf, his hair lazily hidden under a Motion City Soundtrack snapback, talking to the professor.   
Awsten was observing what he saw as Patty and sat opposite him so he could observe him. Patty was communicating with other students so he wasn't imagining him. Maybe Awsten himself was still dreaming? But no, he hadn't had a real dream in over two months, not after he had first met Patty.   
After the lecture Awsten hurried outside, dragging Patty in an empty classroom.   
“Patty?” he asked carefully.   
“Yeah, wait … Awsten?” Patty stammered as he could identify the figure that dragged him into an unlit room, “What's happening?”  
At that moment the bell for the next lecture rang. Awsten got panicked and suggested: “You know what? My grandpa is a scientist maybe he can help us figure all of this out. Meet me at Mech Labs tomorrow morning at 8.” And so they hurried off to their next lectures.   
For the rest of the day Awsten and Patty saw each other a few times in passing and smiled at each other if the opportunity presented itself. The next morning they both feared everything had just been a dream. 

But they still both showed up at Mech Labs at 8 that morning.   
Awsten and Patty hugged awkwardly because this situation was really weird.   
“My grandpa should be here any minute.” Awsten said looking around.   
“Thomas?!” exclaimed a voice from behind them.  
Patty and Awsten whirled around looking confusedly at an old man standing at the entrance to Mech Labs.   
“Grandpa, this is Patty.” Awsten said carefully.   
“Constantine.” the senior says extending his hand to Patty, “You look so much like your grandpa when he was your age, you know that?”   
“You know my grandpa?” Patty asked in disbelief.   
“Let's go inside. I think I have to tell you two a story.” Constantine said and lead the way to a rater nice break room.   
They all got comfortable and Constantine began his story: “I must have been about 17 when I started my first semester at Orford University. I was studying experimental physics just like Thomas. When we were doing our first project together I knew we'd be best friends. We both liked working with a bit of ragtime in the background and thoroughly enjoyed science fiction novels which were both rather rare with the rest of the students in our year.  
We spent most our time together and even moved in with each other. One day one of our professors was talking about the probability of parallel universes. Thomas and I were really interested in that since it sounded a bit like some of the books we had read. So we started researching parallel universes and could soon proof their existence. And we would have done our master thesis on it if it hadn't been for that one night that changed my whole life. I had fallen in love with everything about that project. The theories, the tests but mostly with Thomas. The next day we'd have done our last supervised tests and then we would have been done with our master. So naturally neither of us could sleep so we went to a diner. I had a ring in my pocket and wanted to propose to him but on the way there Thomas was killed by a drunk driver. I was devastated and wanted to honour his name so I got obsessed with work and did what Thomas and I had always dreamt of: A device to communicate between different parallel universes. The tree you two first met in was the tree that was behind our complex that we'd climb and spend countless summer days in. At first I wasn't sure the device was working because there was nobody else there but one day I saw Thomas. Not my Thomas, your grandpa Thomas, Patty. I had been the one killed by the drunk driver in your universe and Thomas had built this device. We spent every free second with each other but soon realized it wasn't good for us. We hadn't seen our families in months and dishes and laundry were stacking up to the ceiling. So we decided we'd give the communication devices we had disguised as lockets to our grandchildren and said goodbye. That's how you ended up with them.”   
There was a silence in the room as Patty and Awsten let the story they had just been told sink in.   
The following months Patty and Awsten were rarely apart and even moved in with each other to save money. Or at least that's what they told everyone else. On weeks days the two were going to university and working in the evening but on weekends they were at Mech Labs with Constantine trying to figure out how Patty could have crossed over to their parallel universe. 

Constantine was just on his way home from the cemetery. It was Thomas' 50th death day and he had been to his grave to bring him some flowers. When he saw a moving truck in front of the university library he out of nowhere remembered a piece of paper he'd found in one of Thomas' shirt pockets after he died.   
L23MR4  
And suddenly Constantine knew what those numbers and letters meant. He went up to two young men carrying boxes of books out of the library.   
“What books are those?” he asked one of them.   
“They're renewing the physics section so those are the old physics books.” one of the men answered.   
“Could you wait just a few minutes. I really need one specific book.” Constantine pleaded.   
The men shrugged: “I guess.”   
Constantine hurried inside. How could he not have noticed that code. It was the code they had used when wanting to remember where certain books were. So he went into the physics section counted the rows to his left and stopped at the 23rd. On the fourth shelve on the middle right he knew exactly which book Thomas meant. It was an old, heavy book that didn't seem to have been read a lot.   
Constantine made his way to Mech Labs and texted Awsten that they had to meet up that evening. Then he locked himself in his lab for the rest of the day.

Awsten and Patty had wondered all day what Constantine could have found that they needed to meet up the night before one of their most important tests. Even as they sat in their usual diner they made up the wildest theories.   
A few minutes before midnight they saw Constantine approaching the diner and as he crossed the street out of nowhere there was a car racing down the empty road. As it had passed Awsten and Patty saw Constantine laying on the ground. Patty yelled for somebody to call an ambulance while Awsten ran outside.   
Awsten rolled Constantine on his side, checked for pulse and breathing, took off his hoodie and pressed it on the wound around the glass shard in Constantine's shoulder. As Awsten cowered next to his grandpa, crying, people from all around started crowding around the scene. Patty tried to send them away at first but there were so many so he just asked for a doctor but none of them were really helpful.   
Soon the paramedics fought their way through the people and Patty had to hold Awsten back so that they could do their job. Patty quickly asked them for the hospital Constantine would be brought to, got Awsten in his car and drove there.   
For a week Awsten and Patty didn't leave the hospital. Only as the doctors say Constantine is stable they make plans to take turns to go home to sleep and change. As Awsten had only washed his bloody shirt in the sink tonight was his turn to go home.   
Patty had been falling asleep every so often but the sirens outside the hospital had not let him sleep more than a half an hour at a time. At 6 a.m., Patty had just managed to fall asleep again, he was woken by a loud beeping noise and before he even realized what was going on doctors and nurses were rushing into the room.   
Sool enough Patty had realized that Constantine was crashing. There was a lot of shouting , then there was a lingering silence which was broken by one of the doctors saying: “Time of death, 6:41 a.m..”  
Out of the corner of his eye Patty saw Awsten standing in the door frame. He had hoped Awsten hadn't seen this but he obviously did. He was shaking, breathing heavily, tears glistening in his eyes.   
Patty was trying to go up to Awsten to comfort him but Awsten pushed him away coldly and took a few steps to his grandpa's hospital bed. Awsten started crying, sobbing heavily as doctors and nurses left the room.   
“Leave!” Awsten said to Patty with a numbness in his voice that Patty had never heard. Patty went to the waiting room, hoping that he would be okay.

As Awsten was coming into the waiting room half an hour later he seemed devastated but as he saw Patty devastation turned to anger.  
“I told you to leave.” Awsten said with the same numbness in his voice.   
“I'll check in with you in a bit?” Patty asked carefully.   
“No.” Awsten said slowly, now scaring Patty, “you take your bad luck and go back to where ever you came from.”  
“But...” Patty tried to argue but was cut off by Awsten: “... you don't know how? I'm sure that's what my grandpa died for. So we'll figure it out. The sooner the better. Get changed, I expect you at Mech Labs in 10 minutes.”

The next month the two boys spent silently retracing Constantine's steps and reading everything about parallel dimensions they could get their hands on and finally they have something that in theory should work.   
Countless times Patty had tried to mend his relationship with Awsten but it seemed Awsten had just shut him out completely so it wasn't a surprise that Awsten insisted on that everything related to parallel universes had to be destroyed.   
Awsten had already destroyed the lockets and all the notes they wouldn't need any more and had instructed Patty to destroy everything else once he was back. At first Patty didn't know about that but since Awsten seemed to have made up his mind about him there was nothing he would want to come back to in this parallel universe so he agreed.   
“Are you sure this will work?” Patty asked as Awsten pushed him into the portal.   
Yes, I'm certain.” Awsten said before pushing the button to power the portal without hesitation. The portal looked like it was working but nothing was happening. Awsten quadruple checked everything but they hadn't made any mistakes.   
“Maybe we've overlooked something.” Patty suggested.   
“How? We've read literally the whole library.” Awsten stated aggressively.   
“What about that book?” Patty pointed at a book that was laying on a chair with a white lab coat which read C. Knight on the name tag. Patty was making his way over to the book until Awsten said: “You stay away from that, those were my grandpa's things.” Awsten went to pick up the book and opened it somewhere in the middle.   
“This says something about dimensional rifts.” Awsten said questioningly.   
As they read the book they discovered that to travel between parallel universes there needs to be a dimensional rift at that point in time. They also found out that the next dimensional rift would open in about thirty days.   
Awsten decided he couldn't spend this time with Patty and so he packed his things and went to visit his cousin, a twelve hour train ride away. 

The following 30 days were hard on Patty, he felt as lonely as he had never felt and so he started writing songs on the guitar Awsten had left at their shared flat. One day, just a few days before he'd go Patty decided to record some of the songs and hide the, somewhere only Awsten would find them so that when one day he's maybe come around he'd know how Patty felt.   
The day of the rift Patty imagined Awsten everywhere, telling him that he shouldn't leave but it didn't happen no matter how badly he wanted it.   
What if he just stayed? He thought to himself as he entered the lab. No, he had played every possible scenario in his head and every single one would only make Awsten hate him even more. So why stay? Maybe at least Awsten could be happy if he left.   
Patty stepped into the portal and waited until the very last second to activate it, still hoping that Awsten would come. But he didn't.

In the same 30 Days Awsten remembered why he lived in the city and not in the mountains like his cousins. He missed public transportation, he missed coffee shops, he missed their diner, he missed university, he missed Mech Labs and weirdly enough he started to miss Patty.   
Awsten had convinced himself that everything was Patty's fault but as he gained some distance from everything that happened he realized that Patty was responsible of none of the awful things that had happened.   
12 hours before the dimensional rift Awsten finally decided to take action. He went to the airport and tried to somehow get back to Orford in time. In time to make Patty stay. How could he have been so stupid. The night they met in the diner was the night Awsten had planned to propose to Patty but instead he decided to push him away, make Patty leave him forever. All he wanted to do now was hold he boy in his arms, kiss his adorable nose and tell him how much he loves him. But for that he'd need a plane ticket right now.   
And in that moment a woman in a suit walks up to Awsten and offers him his ticket. Awsten doesn't even care why, he just thanks the woman and gets to his plane. The woman just smiled, seeing how much she helped this desperate kid.   
Awsten couldn't sit still, he needed to get there in time and every time their approximate arrival time got later Awsten died a little inside. Since he wasn't travelling with any luggage Awsten was out of the airport in no time and as soon as he got a taxi, on his way to Mech Labs.   
He didn't dare make small talk with the driver, fearing that as soon as he would ease up he'd be inattentive and get there too late. Had Patty already gone? Maybe the calculations were wrong. What if something happened to Patty?   
The machine declined Awsten's card twice because he was so on edge, he was shaking like crazy. He wasn't too sporty but as he sprinted inside Mech Labs he could have outrun Usain Bolt. But it was no use, as he opened the door to his grandpa's lab, he only saw a bright light and then only air where they had built the portal.   
He ran to where he hoped the portal still was. It could just be invisible right? But there was no portal. He fell to his knees, the familiar stinging in is eyes as tears started rolling down his cheeks.   
He wasn't perfect, he must have overlooked something when they were destroying all the things right? There must be something Awsten could use to contact Patty and tell him not to destroy the portal and come back. Right? Awsten searched the entire lab to only find a USB drive with the words “For Awsten, Love Patty” in the chest pocket of his grandpa's lab coat. 

Patty knew he should destroy the portal right away but he just needed to make sure he was in the right dimension. So he went to the hospital his grandpa was in and there he was, Thomas Walters. As surprised as ever when Patty told him he was his grandson.   
Patty decided an hour more or less wouldn't matter so he told his grandpa about Awsten and Constantine and parallel universes because if somebody would understand him it would be his grandpa and if not at least he wouldn't be able to tell anyone.  
But to Patty's surprise his grandpa was much more responsive once Patty had mentioned Constantine. There was new fire in his eyes and he began telling Patty about the adventures him and Constantine had gone on.   
After an hour Patty decided he needed to be responsible and finally destroy the portal. So he walks to Mech Lab, much slower than he had ever walked, his feet wanted to walk backwards they didn't want him to destroy the only hope he had to ever see Awsten again. But he had to. So he took apart the portal and submerged everything in the acid basins in the basement of the lab.   
He didn't know how long it took him to get home, it could have taken two minutes or four hours and to be honest he didn't care. Was there some appointment he cared for? Was there anything worth doing at all any more? That night the tears kept flowing. Patty wanted to cry himself to sleep but there was no sleep, only tears and memories and then more tears.

Awsten had listened to the songs Patty had written for him without a break, somehow hoping that if he'd just listen enough Patty would come back or at least show him a way he could come back. But nothing.   
So soon he had to continue live, go to university which was hard since he lost all his interest in making music since it couldn't fill the Patty shaped whole in him no matter how many songs he wrote.   
He changed jobs, quit the one at the local venue to take his grandpa's place at Mech lab. The second whole in his heart.   
Did he have anything left? 

Patty came to visit his grandpa every day now. He heard more things about him and Constantine and noticed that the dream world had other shapes than the tree Patty and Awsten had always been in.   
So one day he asked: “Grandpa, how does the dream world change? You told me about camel rides in the desert, skying in the mountains, diving in the depths of the ocean but Awsten and I have only seen you and Constantine's tree.”  
Awsten, who is Awsten. I've heard that name Awsten before.” Thomas thought.   
“He is … was my boyfriend.” Patty sighed.   
“Oh, is somebody having boy trouble?” Thomas asked innocently.   
“I guess.” Patty said defeatedly, “But you wanted to tell me how to change the dream world, remember?” They had that discussion about boy trouble a couple times now and Patty really wasn't in the mood for it right now, not when he had to tell him tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and every other day.   
He just wanted the Awsten shaped whole in him to heal and now hurt that bad any more but telling his grandpa that story every day was counterproductive.   
Thomas began searching his night stand and Patty already thought he had forgotten about the dream world again.   
“You take this.” Thomas said, holding a locket just like the ones Patty and Awsten have had in his hand, “And you fall asleep with it and if there is someone else with a locket you can plan to meet at specific places.”  
Patty stared at the locket, thinking it was a fake. They had destroyed all the lockets hadn't they?   
“Constantine said you'd need this.” Thomas explained, “I don't think he knew how right he was.”   
“How did you get this?” Patty asked, taking the locket his grandpa was holding out for him.   
“When you were gone and your friends were so desperately searching for you.” Thomas told Patty, “Constantine was here. He said that you had done what we had always dreamt about. That he needed to leave but he'll come back for me and I need to hold on to that locket if you were ever in trouble.”  
Patty didn't know if he should tell his grandpa that Constantine was dead and wouldn't come back for him but decided against it, since it would only upset him and he'd forget any ways.  
And so Patty spent his nights in the dream tree again. Every night just hoping Awsten would show up. 

Soon things is Awsten's life went back to normal. Or at least as normal as possible. His grandpa's house had to be sold and so Awsten was tasked to clean it and get all his things out. After three whole days of work he was done so he decided to sleep in the house for one last time, honouring the hundreds of nights he had spent there when his mom was too busy.   
But just like so many of these nights, Awsten couldn't sleep so he did what he had done when he couldn't sleep as a kid, he climbed on the roof, sat there and watched the sky, watched the neighbourhood. After a few minutes of looking around Awsten noticed one of the bricks of the chimney was out of place and looked completely different.   
So he went over to the chimney to see what it was. To his surprise the “brick” was movable and wasn't even a brick, it was a box. The very first thing Awsten saw was a letter so he read it.   
“Don't even think I didn't notice. I care, never forget that” that's what the letter read. And under it there was a locket. A locket similar to the ones Awsten and Patty had had.   
So desperate Awsten was clutching the locket to his chest and fell asleep at last.

Wakes up in a tree, a big tree, surrounded by black nothingness but it wasn't nearly as lonely as his world has been since the first thing he saw was Patty, a few branches away. Patty was hesitant, not knowing if he was actually dreaming or if Awsten was still mad at him. But Awsten jumped up, running towards Patty and giving him the biggest hug.   
Patty hugged Awsten back, tightly, like he'd never let him go again.   
After a moment of contempt silence Awsten whispered “I missed you.” into the crook of Patty's neck. Patty just hummed in agreement.   
They settled down on one of the branches and Patty told Awsten what he had learned from his grandpa.  
“So why don't we meet at the beach tomorrow?” Patty suggested and locked eyes with Awsten who said: “Or we meet at your place.” As he closed the distance between their lips.   
Again it went dark and both boys woke up in the middle of the night, getting dresses and walking, no running to their diner.   
As they saw one another they ran towards each other, hugging tightly. They went into the diner and ordered some breakfast since the sun was to come up soon.   
In the 6 O'clock news they said that professor Thomas Walters had died peacefully in his sleep at age 95.   
Awsten was hugging Patty tighter, asking: “Are you okay?”   
“Weirdly enough,” Patty smiled lightly, “I am. He said that Constantine had promised to come back for him. I think they're happy.”   
“You know what would make me happy?” Awsten asked, feeling the little cube in the pocket of his jacket.   
“Hm?” Patty hummed, looking at Awsten who's shoulder he was resting his head on.   
“If we would get married.” Awsten said as casually as possible.   
“Are you proposing to me?” Patty asked a bit shocked.   
“Only if you say yes.” Awsten grinned and pulled the little cube out of his pocket to show Patty the simple but beautiful ring he'd had for three months now.   
“Of cause I'll say yes.” Patty smiled and kissed Awsten.   
“So, a wedding next spring?”


End file.
